Contents

Why should I use something new...

What's new?

Why should I use something new...

...when what I have works fine?

Progress.

For real, though, ArghRad is like a version update of gddqrad3. It fixes
some of limitations of gddqrad3 that caused the shadows caused by sunlight to
look blocky, and made some definite improvements (like ambient color control
and multiple suns). It does all of this WITHOUT sacraficing support of
gddqrad3 and qrad3.

What's new?

Here are all of the new keys available for the sun. If
you're hungry for more, go to the online manual (not quite
online yet).

"_sun_angle" and "_sun_mangle" are aliases for the same
function, as are "_sun_fade" and "_sun_wait", but that still
leaves us with four new options, plus the ability to use up to
four suns.

Did you say FOUR suns?

Yes! You can now use up to four suns in your maps, each
with their own color and angle. To use multiple suns, you
would simply define them as you normally do, except you
substitute "_sun2" "_sun3" and "_sun4" for "_sun" when entering
information on your second, third, and fourth suns.

You can use multiple suns on all of the _sun keys except
"_sun_ambient".

Ambient shadow coloring

You can color your ambient shadows now (the part that can't see
the sun, but can see the sky). If define a straight light
value instead of a color value, the shadow color will default
to the average of all of your suns' colors. To define the
color of the shadow, simply enter three values after the
"_sun_ambient" key instead of one.

"_sun_ambient" "[red] [green] [blue]"

Each value represents the brightness of each individual color,
so if the value entered were 120 150 50, the shadow color would
have a minimum red brightness of 120, a minimum green brightness
of 150, and a minimum blue brightness of 50.

Shadow diffusion

This feature is so freakin' cool, I can't contain myself!
What shadow diffusion does is provide an buffer of hazy shadow
between the shade and the direct sunlight. This can make
your shadows look much smoother less harsh. To define the
diffusion, simply enter a value less than the highlight value,
and greater than the shadow value.

"_sun_diffuse" "[value]"

To control the fade distance of the diffusion, Tim Wright has
added the _sun_diffade and _sun_difwait keys. A less than
1 will cause the diffusion to fade out slower, while a value
greater than 1 will make it fade faster. Be aware,
however, that if you use a large value, you may need to reduce
your -chopsky value (or else you will get a chunky shadow).
This defaults to a value of 1, and any value entered will scale
relative to the default. For example, if you entered a
value of .5, the diffuasion would fade twice as rapidly as it
did at 1.

"_sun_diffade" "[value]"

"_sun_difwait" "[value]"

Alternate aiming techniques

There are now two additional ways to aim your sun (both of
which you can substitute for the "_sun" "targetname"
method. The first method is angle aiming. This uses
pitch and yaw to aim. This method is the same as is used
to aim info_player_intermission minus the roll.

The yaw is the position on the z axis. You aim yaw the
same way you aim a door, or a player facing, with 0 pointing
east, and moving counter-clockwise. Pitch is the angle on
the horizon. Pitch values range from negative 90 to
positive 90. -90 points straight down, and 90 points straight
up.

"_sun_angle" "[yaw] [pitch]"

"_sun_mangle" "[yaw] [pitch]"

The second method is vector aiming. By using vector
aiming, you enter a vector coordinate into the value field, and
ArghRad will calculate the angle from the origin (0 0 0) to the
vector (x y z) coordinates you entered. The resulting angle
will be the sun's angle.

"_sun_vector" "[x] [y] [z]"

This was written by Michael N. Meadows, AKA Ryche AKA eg0.&nbsp
My sources were as follows:&nbsp Me, the text file included with ArghRad 1.0,
Tim Wright, and a lot of hard work.&nbsp Feel free to quote me.&nbsp Feel free
to steal my words and claim them as your own.&nbsp Your conscience is all that
stands in your way.&nbsp Most important of all, however, is that you have fun.